Wow - that is BEAUTIFUL! Love it!!! I just might have to stop in and admire it up close. Although your photos captured great detail, they also gave me a taste for more. The fact that it only took him a year to get a degree in theology made me laugh. Sounds about right, actually... :D

You never stopped to admire that before?? I think of you and your husband whenever I am in that Schoolhouse showroom--and this wall of carving was/is the first thing I look at (after being wow'ed by Schoolhouse the overview). I had thought how much it reminds me of Portland--old Portland--of the 1960's (I grew up here). Now I know why!! I didn't even realize how completely "Portland" this was. The carving feels practically iconic to me. Of a certain era, of a certain place. It feels "like the woods," in the same way Halprin's Keller fountain feels like a waterfall off Mt Hood. So glad you posted this.

He was indeed an icon, kinda like Louis Bunce, with his work featured all over town at one time. I was in a workshop with his daughter back then and she was a one-of-a-kind individual (not a surprise, considering her roots).